Gardiner wants another World Heritage Site for Northern Ireland
Ulster Unionist Environment Spokesman, Sam Gardiner MLA, today called for a second world heritage site for Northern Ireland. His comments come as the UN’s cultural organisation UNESCO meet in Christ Church New Zealand to decide if new sites should be added to the 830 long list.
“Northern Ireland has just one site – the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast. Denmark, for example, which has a population of 5.4 million just over three times the population size of Northern Ireland, has four sites. If you take the population of Northern Ireland and Denmark, Northern Ireland could expect to have one more site. I am not saying these things are done on a pro-rata basis but I think this points to the need for at least one more site here in Northern Ireland.”
“The key point about world heritage sites is their tourist potential. To be a world heritage site says that a place is special. It is a draw for tourists.”
“The obvious candidate is the Mountains of Mourne area which is to be our first National Park. I think, however, we need to have an open competition to choose a site managed by a commission specially appointed for the purpose. Then the best bid could go forward to the next UNESCO meeting which is in 2008. The site is then assessed by a UNESCO expert team. One of the things they look at closely is the planned management of the heritage site. About 45 sites are in contention to be added to the list this year.”